4. Development potential and limitations of transnational trade union networking within the Nestlé corporation The global IUF-FES Nestlé project was one phase in a longer process of establishing and developing a global Nestlé trade union network underpinned by strong regional foundations. 4.1. The need for transnational trade union networking within Nestlé The need to set up and further develop the global Nestlé trade union network became abundantly clear at all five meetings comprising this developmental phase. The reports from network participants revealed that the company‘s global management strategy engenders similar difficulties for trade union representation of interests in Nestlé factories in all the various regions and countries: the company is visibly pursuing across-the-board the same policy of downsizing the core workforce while stepping up insecure employment(consequently weakening the trade unions), increasing overtime while at the same time shedding staff, neglecting health and safety protection and discriminating against female employees. By the same token, following the transition to regional management and production strategies, sets of problems and sources of conflict are emerging which have a direct transnational dimension, namely transnational restructuring, production transfers and competition between sites, as became particularly apparent at the regional conferences for Asia­Pacific and Latin America. Worldwide projects like Globe and Target 2004 are a further indication of the need for the global trade union network. The network makes it possible to pull together and analyse the similar and different effects of these global projects on individual Nestlé sites around the world. Lastly, the meetings showed that a whole series of problems existing at individual Nestlé sites may be specifically local or national but nevertheless need to be handled on a transnational basis because they cannot be solved at those levels(e.g. the difficult situation at the Russian plant in Timashevsk). 40